"Just what makes a pure grappler think he can survive with an experienced striker. Especially if that striker isn't following any particular rule set and is well aware of what the grapplers strategies are".

Btw, start to learn how to monkey grip, that's using your fingers without your thumbs.

Helps with the forearm burns.

Originally Posted by Sifu Rudy Abel

"Just what makes a pure grappler think he can survive with an experienced striker. Especially if that striker isn't following any particular rule set and is well aware of what the grapplers strategies are".

"Just what makes a pure grappler think he can survive with an experienced striker. Especially if that striker isn't following any particular rule set and is well aware of what the grapplers strategies are".

I am not nearly as fatigued during/after rolling compared to the first day.

But it has NOTHING to do with any physical/trainable property of my body....much less my "heart and lungs". Thank God our bodies don't listen to the whims of our brains. We'd all be dead/crippled long ago with our "strong hearts" (or rather, the logical extension of what that really means, if it means anything at all) and the wholesale extrication of Satan's microscopic minions from our frames (those damn slow twitch muscle fibers getting in the way of our EXPLOSIVE POWER SPEED STRENGTH)....

It has everything to do with my *conscious decision* to not randomly flail around like an idiot. My "cardio" has improved because I engage my muscles considerably LESS. And when I do engage them it's much more efficient in terms of that which I'm trying to achieve outside my body.

When I get back into the gym (after a 2 month lay off), I will find that that which was developed on the mat is NOT a *general*, trainable property of my physical person. If explosive strength or endurance was improved, that *should* translate somehow into something I can objectively measure in a controlled environment independent of that precise venue in which it was developed. It doesn't work that way though. It's a one way street. Improvement in Activity X =/= Improvement in Activity Y =/= Improvment in Acticity Z. Improvement in Activity X and/or Y and/or Z =/= Improvement in Fitness. However, improvement in general fitness can and should help the procurement and execution of all skills in all activities. If an anecdote is of any value, there was a relatively experienced student there who just returned after an extended break. He gassed so bad, he left early. Despite my horribly tense, arbitrary and inefficient spaz-attack, I was able to continue where he called it a day. Maybe I don't know the whole story, but my impression was that he did not undertake any exercise outside of the BJJ. I'm guessing that was the difference between he and I.

Hell, the first time I did the Firefighter combat course, I absoloutly wrecked myself to achieve a very pathetic time. The second time I did it (with no change in my conditioning regiment), I achieved a slightly *better* time while, literally, not even breaking a sweat or breathing all that hard. The *only* things that changed was that I learned how to swing a sledge hammer more efficiently, I changed my grip on the dummy carry, plus a a few other things. But I did *not* run stairs carrying a twice-as-heavy dummy, or swing a friggin hammer til it dropped from my hands. The brutality I saved for the safe and measurable confines of a gym environment wherein my body, not my brain, was rationally and measurably stimulated to grow and improve.

As for any other piece-meal exercise value BJJ might have, it certainly doesn't make up for the injuries I've had so far. Real annoying bastards too...sprained toe, for instance. In terms of improving one's body; "with friends like these..."

Hitherto conclusion. Exercise is a sucky reason to get into martial arts.

I'll tell you how. It's short rapid spurts of anaerobic and aerobic excercise.

You rest, and then build up again. The biggest thing for me to learn was to breathe and not hold it in.

As a smoker, it's been particulary hard, my last month at the Gracie Academy, I was able to roll for an hour straight with different partners.

Considering in a real life situation, it's over in seconds, I think I'm okay in that department. :)

Originally Posted by Sifu Rudy Abel

"Just what makes a pure grappler think he can survive with an experienced striker. Especially if that striker isn't following any particular rule set and is well aware of what the grapplers strategies are".